The best and worst Vauxhall cars ever

Vauxhall has been one of the most popular car manufacturers of all time – but some models have enjoyed more success than others, writes motoring journalist Rob Griffin.

Here are some of the best and worst creations that have rolled off the company’s production lines over the past 100 years.

The best Vauxhall cars ever made - Chevette

The Chevette was a supermini made from 1975 to 1984.

It was arguably the car that turned everything around for Vauxhall and helped shake off its unenviable reputation for producing rust-prone machines.

This is something that had dogged the manufacturer for the best part of two decades.

It was introduced to the car buying public with a television add featuring a catchy tune and jingle proclaiming: "It’s whatever you want it to be."

This was actually a fair point. Its versatility and stylish good looks made it hugely popular and introduced a new generation of potential buyers to the Vauxhall marque.

The best Vauxhall cars ever made - Astra

The Astra name has been around for more than 30 years but the latest model to bear its name is a stunning machine and seen as a viable rival to Ford’s Focus.

Top Gear even branded it as "perhaps the best Astra ever".

Available in a variety of options, the Vauxhall Astra has sleek, sporty lines and a well-designed interior – in contrast to the rather bare and basic look of the past.

With its punchy performance it’s fair to say this Astra is no longer a dull company runaround.

The best Vauxhall cars ever made - Zafira

The Zafira may not have been enough to take your breath away when it first arrived around at the tail end of the 1990s.

But this family transporter actually warrants its place among the most important Vauxhalls ever made, according to motoring author Giles Chapman.

"It was the first seven-seater compact MPV where the seats would properly fold into the floor," he says.

"It was also based on the Vauxhall Astra so you knew it was going to be pretty bullet proof."

The worst Vauxhall cars ever made - 1957 Victor F Type

Despite its American styling and lavish amounts of chrome – quite radical as far as affordable British family cars were concerned – this car was a disaster, recalls Chapman, author of The Worst Cars Ever Sold.

"It set the Vauxhall cause back enormously through the 1960s because it was such a rust bucket," he says.

"The inner body tended to trap a lot of rain water and, as it wasn’t very rust proof, it just rotted."

Although thousands were shipped overseas its popularity didn’t last.

"Its bad reputation meant it was only an export star for a brief time," adds Chapman.

"It was just poorly conceived and poorly designed."

The worst Vauxhall cars ever made - 1995 Vectra

The Vauxhall Vectra replaced the popular Cavalier in the UK but didn’t get off to the best of starts when it was savaged by Jeremy Clarkson in a six-minute long segment on Top Gear.

Clarkson described it as a "box on wheels" and "like road testing a microwave oven".

It was the dictionary definition of a boring, functional company car with a pretty cramped and unappealing interior.

While there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the Vectra, it did nothing to trigger excitement and was overshadowed by the Ford Mondeo at the time.

The worst Vauxhall cars ever made - Belmont

It might be hard to believe but the Belmont can actually lay claim to being one of Britain’s most regularly stolen cars.

In fact, a Home Office commissioned car theft index revealed it to be the car most at risk in 2005 with 76 stolen out of every 1,000.

First appearing in the mid-1980s, the Belmont was a saloon with a huge boot at a time when hatchbacks were the shape of choice.

Had they called it an Astra Saloon it may have been better received but its name reflected its styling - ugly.

What do you think?

Are these the best and worst Vauxhall cars ever made?

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I bought a chèvette in 1975. It was sold as being built to last and was just a year old when I purchased it. Within 18 months the rust was coming through on the wings. So much for putting the rust bucket image behind it.

The PA Cresta runs the F Series Victor a close second. Their cornering and roadholding were dreadful and you could almost watch them rust away. Once the styling had been tidied up they were both handsome cars, if you like that sort of thing. But those windscreens meant an awful lot of bruised knees.

I bought a Asta Twin top new and after 4 years It developed £1550 worth of faults it had VFSH Vauxhall and the garage washed thier hands of the problem I would never buy a vauxhall again even if it was the last car on earth I would rather do what the proclaimers said I would walk 10,000miles than get in a vauxhall

It must be the 2.2ltr CDI Vectra with a guaranteed speed of around 25mph especially when you were in the outside lane of the motorway. It died on you when driving! Did they ever sort out their injection fiasco?

I owned a Vauxhall chevette or shuvett as it was known.never could get it to start, sold it ater 3 months. Not long exchanged my astra, one of the best cars I owned along with my omega.I will also add my brother had a bad experience with the frontera

Of all the cars I have had in 30 years of driving, my Vauxhall Astra mk1 was the worse. I have always avoided them since. Everything went wrong from the pistons to the heater system. As I remember it was 4 years old when I bought it.... thought I was treating myself!!!!

Nobody has mentioned the Vauxhall Meriva as one of the worst cars. On the outside a sizeable mpv. Inside huge pillars that restrict vision, lousy fuel economy, tiny glove box and door bins, stupid location of the windscreen washer bottle that requires major parts removal to change the electric pump, ECU bolted on to the inlet and exhaust manifold so that it gets fried and conks out prematurely, two different types of screws used to secure the rear light cluster to make bulb changing hassle, A/C that whines like a groaning walrus.... I could go on.

Hi all! Agree with some of this. The Chevette was definitely a pretty decent car. 'One million' variations, with just the one 1256 engine lol. (Discounting the homologation HS/HSR). Well put together and quite reliable. I'd add the mk 1 Cavalier. A really good looking Wayne Cherry finished design, which was far better dynamically than its main rivals. The GL version was in production for six years, and all that was added in that time were head restraints and a tachometer. Kind of proof positive that the car was right first time. The Zafira, with its clever third row of seats, set new ground for MPVs and was much copied. Used diesel versions sold like the proverbial 'hot cake' a few years ago.

Not sure anyone should be paying any attention to the comments of Clarkson. He has made the 'white goods' reference on many an occasion. The 'test' of the Vectra in question was more about Clarkson creating a laddish image for himself at the time, rather than a focus on the demerits of the Vauxhall. In spite of this, the 'criticism' seemed to stick to the Vectra much more than the same criticism which was levied at the Laguna during the same 'test', as the Vectra was the focus of the evaluation. Saying that, the Vectra was no better than average and hardly an improvement on the Cavalier mk 3 that preceded it.

If I were looking for 'bad' Vauxhalls, I'd look at the early 'engine management era' cars. I ran/drove/sold a lot of mk 2 and mk 3 Cavaliers during the '80s and '90s. Apart from the odd one or two cars, Vauxhall quite rightly earned itself a reputation for decent reliability during that time frame. Then motor manufacturers moved into the 'mother board' era, and I think GM Europe didn't adapt to this very well at all in the early days. Every Vauxhall related problem I came across in the early noughties, was related to the running electronics. The Omega was king of this! If the electronics under the bonnet hadn't gone south, then the electronics in the auto box had.

Would have thought the Firenza HP (Droopsnoot), and the VX220 were worth a mention.

I found nothing wrong with the Chevette it is the way you look after your car mine was 3 years old when I bought it and I had it 3 Years and no rust The best car I had though was a Cavalier it had over100,000 miles on the clock when it finally gave up yet there was nothing wrong with the engine.

From a mechanical perspective from my time and experience (80's to today), it appears that GM build quality was ropey, with equally ropey bodywork. However this is no different to any other British car of the time.

The early 90's Cavalier was built to a much higher standard, both body wise and mechanically than anything they'd done before, and seemed to be here to save Vauxhall. And indeed it did well and held up to things like rain.

It seems they rode on the back of the Cavalier's success (at the time it was very successful) and went back to making cars of lower quality like the Vectra mentioned in this article.

Obviously this was in the good old days, when manufacturers designed and made their own cars, and now Vauxhall shares chassis and designs just like every other manufacturer. Although I do use a 59 plate Astra at work and do find it a lot nicer than other cars of its class.

While we're on the subject, how has the Nova not been mentioned? A lovely nippy little car that looked prime to do well, coming in at a slightly higher spec than an Austin Metro and getting more of a cult status with the kids - but alas has to have been the most easy rotting car I have ever laid eyes on. I swear you could watch water fall on it and see the rust form.

My two pence on the matter anyway! Have enjoyed reading other peoples responses :)

Pretty inaccurate article to be honest. The Chevette was a rotbox with the useless Viva engine, better was the Opel Kadett version, flat front and a decent 1200 engine. Best Vauxhall? The Nova, without a doubt. I had my SR for 10 years, and routine service items aside, it needed: a fuel pipe from the pump to the carb, 2 parcel tray lift straps, and 2 rear wheel bearings. Rust was minimal and it was a hoot to drive. Next best? 2 litre 8 valve Astra mk 3 or Cavalier mk 2. I had the Astra for 11 years, not quite as fault free as the Nova, but still good. 1.0 mk1 Corsa, reliable but dull. The worst Vauxhall. All post mk 3 Astras. They handle better, but the engines are useless, Sadly, Vauxhall cannot make 16 valve engines. The worst is the 2.2. Drinks oil (250 miles per litre) valve trouble, timing chain trouble (Supposed to be more reliable than a belt!) and EGR problems (like most others in the range sadly) mena it will bankrupt you. Do not buy a VX220 non turbo, it uses this engine and so is not a performance car unless you like topping the oil up daily.

Break my heart why don't you, the first car I owned was a Belmont, and if the Astra was a good car, then the Belmont was a good car with a big backside. Surprisingly nippy for a 1.6, I bought mine in 1993 when it had done 57K, and put another 78,000 miles on it before scrapping it 8 years later, when it was 13. It's red colour had practically faded to orange, to the extent it was nicknamed The General, and I almost painted a confederate flag on the roof. It was stolen at one point, and though I got it back, it was never the same. I miss that car...

I loved my mark 3 Cavalier 1991 vintage. I actually won it from the Insurance Service - only 13 miles on the clock when I got it. Driving home in a strange new car I noticed it dipping into a corner, looked down at speedo - I was clocking 100 mph without realising it ! That is how comfortable it was. It never needed any oil between services, the only major expense was to replace all the tyres after about 60,000 miles. My garage were complimentary about cavaliers, it was a common reps car at the time, but always reliable and economical for a 1.6 engine. The only time it let me down was when the cam belt gave up after about 15 years! Even when it blew a tyre on the M1, I could still come to a safe stop. We had to part company after 17 years because the roof lining had come adrift.

If you want to slate Vauxhall's for rust, did anyone read this month's car mechanics magazine? Vauxhall were rated quite high, but the boys from Dagenenham were rated very poor and yet if you believe all the media hype Ford can do no wrong! The KA and some Fiesta's are very rotprone, my MOT tester told me that its quite common to see 04 plate KA's showing serious rot already and Ive seen 52 plate examples in the breakers with terminal rust! My Y plate escort van required welding around the rear shock mountings and thats had a very easy life for a van. Back in the eighties I can remember mk 2 Escorts having to have the front strut tops welded up after 5-6 years and thats a major load bearing point, at least if your Chevette went rusty it was usually around the front wings, that were bolt on incidentally. As far as my experience goes, and Ive owned many Vauxhall's there hasnt been a bad one. My HC Viva did over 150000 miles on the same engine, and still survives. My 96 Astra 1.6 8v estate just keeps on going, just a few miles short of 150k. The only duffer they have made is the ugly pointless Signum, why they dropped the brilliant Omega for that I will never know! Its funny how although Clarckson hammered the Vectra, there seems to be quite a following for them within the go faster brigade, maybe they know a good car when they see it?

Bought a 2nd hand Vectra a few years ago. Not terrific. 28mpg. It broke down twice on busy roads, first time with alternator packing in, second time with timing belt bust. That finished it, towed off to the knacker's yard. Not terrific memories. Bought a second hand Nissan Micra from about the same year. Really reliable. Kept on going great until written off after accident caused by another driver on his mobile phone. Drove a 2013 Corsa when offered one as courtesy car to replace that old Micra, and it rolled along beautifully for those couple of weeks. It made me re-think my bad opinion of Vauxhall somewhat.

Try as I might I just can't love Vauxhalls. They usually look pretty good ie the Calibra but they just don't deliver. I had a Cavalier GLS as a company car. What a pig. Twice I had to be low loaded in by the RAC because the diesel pump packed up. The back seat fell apart and the speedo failed. It looked good but drove terrible, the 1.7 turbo diesel was gutless and noisy. Years before I used to drive another company car a Vauxhall Viva Estate. When bits were not falling off it was just a yawn car. The boss had a Transcontinental 2.3 Victor which I quite liked but the build quality was rubbish. Last year I hired a Vauxhall Astra 1.4 for a holiday in Scotland. Gutless is not the word, it just was hard work trying to make it go up anything slightly resembling a hill. You can keep Vauxhalls and any other GM offerings. No wonder Ford always leave them in their wake.

I loved my chevette but contrary to what it said above it was rust prone. it was an extremely reliable car but the rust caused me to change it. My next car was a Vauxhall Nova. Now that was a car! I loved it and only changed it when once again I was beaten by rust. It was nearly 13 years old by then. I would have bought another nova if they were still making them.

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